I’m reading and rereading books on Christian spirituality these days. It comes with my prepping to teach on the subject. With that as context I’ll offer a brief reflection on two widely appreciated works that promote spiritual transformation. One, Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, lists disciplines under the headings of Inward, Outward, and Corporate. The …

Some people enjoy exceptional intellectual gifts: strong memories, analytic and synthetic abilities, and good language skills. But Moses, it seems, wasn’t one of these. He was certain his speech impediment precluded any public ministry. Which raises a question. Why doesn’t God do better in finding followers? Moses was defective. Peter, too, seemed less than brilliant. …

Here’s a question that might seem circular but it actually invites closer attention: Is the Spirit engaged in Christian Spirituality? And if he is, how so? Is he, for instance, the sole source and basis of spirituality? So that real spirituality relies on the Spirit’s presence and work in a soul? Or is Spirit an …

Each morning we move from our sleep into a more focused wakefulness. It comes in stages. We may have morning birds, family nudges, or an alarm to stir us. Then we’re on to the standard start-up stuff of every morning. A shower. Toast and coffee along with some family coordinating. We all have our own …

How do we, as Christians, build up others? I’m asking this with both our secular contacts and fellow believers in view. Is there a special evangelism and discipleship program, ministry strategy, or sermon series available to do the trick? Are there seminars to attend, disciplines to engage, or educators to invite to teach spiritual formation …

In the sixteenth century John Calvin was a gift to the young Protestant Reformation; and he remains helpful today. The broad Bible reach of his Institutes, for instance, is still engaging. Some, I know, will be suspicious. Calvin has a reputation as a cold intellectual fixated on divine sovereignty and predestination. But, certainly to my …

We watched the waves start to form over a hundred yards out. Our family visits to the Kailua beach on Oahu where Dad was based in the Air Force were common and we boys got the knack of bodysurfing. The trick was to swim like crazy in the low stage just before the peak of …

Yesterday I pulled out the third volume of my Works of Richard Sibbes. He’s a sweet read on a Sunday afternoon in the late winter. At first reading I’m reminded that he wrote in Shakespeare’s era—so the style isn’t what we’re used to. But any sense of distance evaporates after a paragraph or two as …

Billy Graham caught my attention early on. I remember hearing about him as a child living in Japan in the mid-fifties. My father was in the Air Force and we were stationed at the Tachikawa air base, near Tokyo. Billy came to Tokyo for an early outreach effort and my parents attended the rally because …

Luca and Anca spent the day with me visiting the ruins of Pompeii near Naples. Then the next day Luca and I visited the Naples archealogical museum where most of the artifacts of Pompeii’s destruction from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius are on display. I was surprised by my response to the experience. Let me …